Recent Tasting Notes

You know, I quite like this. The smell of the leaf is all cherry. The brew is a nice deep red. This tastes like warm cranberry juice with a cherry finish. It’s not as heavy as cranberry juice, but it doesn’t feel thin either. This would be a good winter evening tea for me. It just makes me think of curling up by a nice fireplace for some reason. I can see this being great as an iced tea, too.

This was a very tart tisane- it tasted like unsweetened cherry juice. The cranberry taste started ut tasting like slightly stale cranberry, but it grew on me as I drank it. It was refreshing for the afternoon.

This is one of my favorite hibiscus-based herbals. Although hibiscus is the strongest flavor here, I can also taste both cranberry (more) and cherry (less, although the aroma of the dry blend is all cherry). It’s quite sour, which I like. I’ve had this hot and iced, and while it’s good both ways I think it works better iced.

Preparation

Saying goodbye to this one…klutzily knocked over the tin last night, which left me just enough for a farewell mug this morning. By far the nicest, gentlest ginger-peach combo I’ve sampled. One more thanks to TeaBird, who originally sent me this treat.

Preparation

Ginger Peach is very pretty to look at: some pretty blue-ish petals that remind me of cornflowers are scattered in with the black tea. The peach scent is deep—almost apricot. Steeped in the cup, Ginger Peach turns a dark golden brown. The flavor is heavy on the peach, light on the ginger, but altogether pleasantly fruity. Nice hot; should be very enjoyable on ice this summer.

Preparation

This was one of those unusual almost-March mornings where it was warmer outside when I woke up than when I went to bed. So the tea o’the a.m. needed to be springy. After prowling through the light stuff that migrated to the back of the cabinet, I pulled this out and I’m glad I did.

My experience with sencha is very limited, other than I knew it looks like lawn clippings. But the sweet and nutty flavor—really sweet for a green—surprised me. Thanks to Tea Bird for broadening my horizons!

Preparation

Bitter cold, sub-zero wind chill, and the general January mopes are driving me to swig copious quantities of every chocolate based tea in my pantry. Added a sloppy teaspoon of caramel syrup and not regretting it a bit. This is still the coffee-ist tea I’ve ever had, but I prefer the gentle caffeine buzz to the slam-you-up-against-the-wall a.m. jolt.